To consider a school with a bad ofsted report.

[Bbee29]

DS is 10 and in year 5 and starting to think about secondary school for sept 2022.

He is autistic and has an EHCP.

There are 2 schools he can go to. We live in a village so both require transport. Due to his EHCP he will get a place in either despite that one (the ‘good’ one) of them is over capacity and getting in is hard.

One of them has a good ofsted rating but the other was rated inadequate in 2017 so I can only assume things have improved.

At first I was edging towards the one with the good ofsted but now I’m considering the other despite being inadequate...

1. The good school is massive. The inadequate school is half the size. It’s smaller generally and not at capacity due to the bad report. I feel the smaller school would benefit DS.

1. Most of his friends will be going to the inadequate school as the other is full and most children from surrounding villages go to the smaller one.

1. Despite the bad ofsted some very positive things were written about the sen provision at the school. Things such as ‘children are well supported’ ‘’ make good progress from their starting points etc’ ‘strong provision for pupils who need it’ etc.

1. I like the location better. Sounds silly but the good school is right on a main road and DS often has no sense of danger. The inadequate school is more secluded and seems safer.

1. I’ve heard good things about the sen department at the inadequate school!

So aibu to consider the one that isn’t seen as good? I feel a sense of guilt for sending him to a school rated so badly but I feel the smaller size etc will be better.

I also think that sometimes ofsted isn’t a great reflection of the school.

I went to a school which always had a glowing ofsted, best results in the county etc but that’s all the school cared about. Bullying was rife, it was mainstream but the area was quite snobby and rich. There was very little support for students with sen. So sometimes the schools that look great on paper aren’t so good on practise.

It’s so hard when you can’t visit. I’ve only spoken to the ‘good’ school so far. They seem good but the senco did say that it gets extremely busy in the corridors due to the amount of pupils!

Advice?

Have you been to visit them both? If you think the inadequate one will suit your ds better I'd go for that.

@OverTheRainbow88

What were the main points of concern on the require improvement school?

If it was behaviour or safeguarding that requires improvement, and I had a choice, I would avoid.

I think the main points that required improvement were around the progress children make at their time there and how teachers engage with the students, teaching quality, senior leadership etc. Also persistent absence etc which is also an issue with the other school too I believe.

The ofsted did report that behaviour is generally good around the school.

@Tal45

Have you been to visit them both? If you think the inadequate one will suit your ds better I'd go for that.

No visits allowed due to covid. Hopefully we’ll be able to visit in the near future!

The report was a good few years ago and things change.

That said, it is worth reading the report to get an idea of why the rating was issued and see if you can see any changes since then.

As DD1 moved up to y5, the secondary school we hoped to send her to received a 'requires improvement' rating from Estyn. Reading the report, much was related to poor management. Since then, they have had a change if management and it has completely turned the school around. We did apply for the school and DD1 couldn't be happier. The alternative school has merged with another school and doubled in size which I don't think would suit DD.

Go with your gut.